- After missing out on the acquisition of Declan Rice, Manchester City is mulling a move for Frenkie de Jong, a former target of Manchester United.
City are still looking for a midfielder despite the fact that they never really wanted to sign Rice and were only trying to help Mikel Arteta.
Ilkay Gundogan left for Barcelona, therefore Pep Guardiola needs to find a replacement even if they’ve already signed Mateo Kovacic.
Rice is now off the menu, and you’re going to
To fill the vacuum left by his now-former captain, Guardiola must divert his focus away from Arsenal and toward other teams.
When Manchester United, a local rival of City, had a comparable need for a midfielder last summer, Erik ten Hag ended up signing Casemiro.
There is little doubt that the Dutchman worked hard to recruit someone prior to that, but it happened when his team was last in the Premier League after just two games.
De Jong, whom he had previously worked with at Ajax, was his top goal, but despite how much his team appeared to want to sell him, the midfielder had no interest in leaving the Nou Camp.
The Sun is now reporting that Guardiola will try to outdo his fellow bald fraud living in Manchester by persuading De Jong to leave the comfort of Catalonia for the north west of England.
The 26-year-old is still not really interested in leaving his current club, but they are once more open to having his salary removed from their records.
He reportedly makes £400,000 a year at the club, and Barca might try to recoup any of the $90 million that City was prepared to pay for Rice.
The Premier League winners do have a happy knack of refusing to pay more for a player than their valuation of them, hence deciding not to go on with the Rice deal.
Xavi is also pretty stacked for midfielders with Gavi and Pedri leading the new generation and Franck Kessie and Nico also available, even before the addition of Gundoga
